Make no mistake about it, the radical extremists who would destroy the American Constitution and national governmental system set up in 1776 believe that they are near their endgame. The convergence of the American Christian Taliban and the Republican corporate oligarchy -- combined with de facto control of the mainstream media -- has created the perfect storm for a one-party state. Even without the "nuclear option" showdown on the filibuster, the Reagan and two Bush administrations have already packed the federal courts with enough party hacks to provide them protection from prosecution, the police state authority to intrude into our private lives, and the sanctioning of executive branch secrecy. And that's before the arrival of the new farm team of Bushevik loyalists coming down the pike. For many years, the radical right has defined anyone who is secular or doesn't believe that a few self-appointed religious fanatics should control the government as enemies of the state. That is the message of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robinson, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Rick Santorum, Bill Frist, Tom DeLay, Karl Rove, Grover Norquist and their "colleagues."

And let's note that Media Matters has a new campaign "Hands off Public Broadcasting." As noted in members' posted comments as well as in the interview with Ruth, the community is pretty much divided on the issue of PBS and NPR. If you're in favor of action, please visit Media Matters' campaign. The page gives a history of recent events for anyone who's not clear on Ken Tomlinson, et al.

Evidence of how quickly and irretrievably a country can be stripped of its cultural heritage came with the Iraq war in 2003.The latest figures, presented to the art crime conference yesterday by John Curtis of the British Museum, suggested that half of the 40 iconic items from the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad still had not been retrieved. And of at least 15,000 items looted from its storerooms, about 8,000 have yet to be traced.About 4,000 of the objects taken from the museum had been recovered in Iraq. But illustrating the international demand for such antiquities, Dr Curtis said around 1,000 had been confiscated in the US, 500 pieces had been impounded in France, 250 in Switzerland and 200 or so in Jordan.

Franklin was not the original object of FBI surveillance. They were watching AIPAC meetings with Israeli embassy officials, on suspicion of systematic espionage. They were surprised when Pentagon employee Franklin showed up in the videotapes. When will AIPAC be made to register as an agent of a foreign power?So asks columnist Juan Cole, following the arrest of Pentagon official Larry Franklin for "having shown classified documents to two officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (StevenRosen, AIPAC director of foreign policy issues, and Keith Weissman, high-level Middle East analyst--both of them only recently fired)."Cole goes on to observe that "Franklin was not the original object of FBI surveillance. They were watching AIPAC meetings with Israeli embassy officials, on suspicion of systematic espionage. They were surprised when Pentagon employee Franklin showed up in the videotapes." [ posted by Juan @ 5/5/2005 06:04:00 AM http://www.juancole.com/ ]

About Me

We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting.
This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists.